TicketsApril 27, 2010
Each week of competition, University of Cincinnati head women's track and field coach Susan Seaton and head men's track and field coach Bill Schnier take a look back at the performances from the previous week. Coach Seaton comments about the women's team, while coach Schnier talks about the men's squad in their weekly Beartracks. This past week, both teams competed at the RedHawk Invitational in Oxford, Ohio. Here are Seaton's and Schnier's reactions to the RedHawk Invitational.
Lady Beartracks
Red-Hawk Invitational
Our last meet before the BIG EAST Championship saw us traveling to Miami University for a tune-up meet for some and a last chance opportunity to qualify for others. Most athletes made the best of this opportunity to compete close to home and got done what they came to do. In recent years we have traveled to Penn Relays or Drake Relays on this weekend but decided that resting up for the BIG EAST Championship while providing a meet close by would be a better way to go.
We had 12 of our athletes travel to the meet and we recorded two new BIG EAST qualifying marks and seven in total. One of the new BIG EAST marks came from Michele McKenney , who has been training hard all year and earned her spot to compete in the BIG EAST meet the hard way. Being the only entrant in the women's 3000m steeplechase , Michele had to do it all on her own. She had a good plan to run even splits and bring it home strong. Cheered on by her teammates who lined up all around the track she did indeed drop 10 seconds off her previous PR and qualified for the BIG EAST meet. The other new BIG EAST mark came from Bridget McNeill in the hammer throw. Bridget had her eyes on the 150 - foot mark all season and finally got it this time. This freshman has been working hard to make her mark during her first year and just moved up ninth place on our all-time list in the hammer.
Returning to her old form was Sharika Thompson in the 400m hurdles. She ran a season - best time in the 400m hurdles, just narrowly missing the BIG EAST mark. In only five weeks of training , Sharika has made great strides in her quest to return to her old form and contribute to the team. She will represent us at the BIG EAST meet after receiving a CDE (Coaches Discretionary Entry) because we believe she can cut her time down even farther. Sprinters Ashley Arnold and Natasha Burse also used the opportunity to get in a tune-up meet before the "big" championship. Both ran solid races and it was good to see Ashley compete in her main event , the 400m dash , after battling a hamstring injury for a while. Natasha's 200m race had a great start to it and her time would have been much better had she not ran into a strong head wind. Regardless of that, she looks ready to battle it out with our conference foes on our home turf this weekend.
In more field event action , Stefanie Ponte took advantage of another chance to hone her skills in the pole vault and set herself up for a great BIG EAST meet. Catherine Earl also wanted one more chance to compete and did well in both of her events, with strong marks in the shot put and hammer. Our heptathlete , Boudine Bouma, did struggle a bit this weekend but has done a fine job preparing herself for the BIG EAST Championship after overcoming a persistent injury.
We are now a few days away from our first ever home BIG EAST Conference Championship. We had a whole year to prepare for it and will now find out how well we did it. The meet, as always , will be a fierce battle and the teams and athletes with the most confidence will emerge victorious. Let's give it all we got and rise to the challenge.
Go Bearcats!
MEN'S Beartracks
In years past, we have attended the Penn Relays (46,000 spectators) or the Drake Relays (18,000 spectators) on this weekend, but this year we opted for the brand new RedHawk Invitational at Miami University, mostly because we are resting up for the BIG EAST next weekend. A few Bearcats needed a meet, either because they still had not yet met the BIG EAST standard or because they wished to stay sharp for the BIG EAST. No matter what the reason for competing, we only took 15 athletes to Oxford, Ohio, in about as relaxed a meet as we have ever attended. It was the perfect way to prepare for the BIG EAST and nearly everyone feels prepared.
The highlights were twofold. Number one occurred when Chase VanCura finally reached the BIG EAST qualifying standard of 49.04 by running 48.25 in a winning effort. Chase had run 47+ on relays but had not yet met the BIG EAST mark until Saturday. He breezed around one lap, running it just like a relay, relaxed and fast. His time was just .08 short of his PR of 48.17, a time which got him sixth in the BIG EAST last year. Everyone was happy for this hard-working junior. Number two came from Antione Drakeford, which was no surprise. Rather than running his specialty, Antione opted to run the 800 M. for the first time this year and the second time in his life. He led wire to wire, eclipsing last year's time of 1:52.04 by running a sizzling 1:51.58. Naturally that qualified for the BIG EAST, but he will not run that race next week, concentrating instead on the sprints. This Bearcat star has now qualified for the BIG EAST in the 100, 200, 400 and 800 as well as the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relays. That's a lot of versatility and range for this senior captain from Columbus.
There were no other new BIG EAST qualifiers at this meet although several got close. Zach Schmidt was hoping to make the BIG EAST in the triple jump but his 42' 11-3/4" jump was a bit short. Oliver Book tried to improve two seconds from last week's All-Ohio mark of 14:47, but he too fell short with a 15:05 for 5K. Nevertheless, Oliver is well on his way to a terrific freshman year.
Several people set seasonal bests and went home happy with that. Zach Fields and Ryan Westfall broke 2:00 in the 800 M. for the first time this year with nice runs of 1:58.87 and 1:59.16, respectively. Each has made considerable progress this spring and both have contributed to the spirit of that fine half-mile group. Brian Bruner finally got into a meet and did quite well. His blocks slipped in the 100 M. dash so the start should have been recalled. It wasn't so Brian had to play catch-up, running an 11.44 in the process of placing fourth. His 22.91 in the 200 M. was a nice one yet indicated a general lack of conditioning.
Darius Howard won the "Battle of the Freshmen" over Cameron Hermiller. These two have spent the entire year running almost identical times and Saturday was no different. Cameron won the 100 M. (11.42 to 11.49), but Darius won by a greater margin in the 200 M. (23.16 to 23.73). Their combined times swung in favor of Darius, 34.65 to 35.15. We had the following winners: Troy Cooper (shot put), Zach Schmidt (triple jump), Chase VanCura (400 M.), Dayo Igeleke (100 M.) and Antione Drakeford (800 M.).
Come to the Big East at UC! This meet will be next weekend, with a Friday-Saturday-Sunday format. Having finished fourth the past two years, we are excited about moving up, but that won't be easy. For example, our UC record in the 4 x 400 relay (3:09.77) ranks us only third. That trend is all over the place yet we are famous for getting the job done on meet day at the conference. We are so excited to host this competition, which will be the best track & field meet ever held in Cincinnati and possibly Ohio. Come root for the Bearcats and root hard.